Part 4, page 23

Transcript

The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.

ANON: Do you recall what you told the captain? COOPER: The last time, I do. I said, "It's takeoff time. Take me to Mexico." ANON: What was the Captain's reaction? COOPER: About the same as if I had said, "Take me to Katmandu". He looked at me as if I were totally insane. He said he could try Medford, Red Bluff or Reno, all on Vector 23. My response was negative. He then suggested San Francisco; I told him no, very emphatically. I said, "I want the flaps at 15 per cent and the gear down. I also want the ventral staircase down when you take off." He gave me a negative on the stairs. [He] said, not too gently as I recall, "God damnit, I can't [rotate] for departure–lift the nose and rotate–with those [flaps down]." He also told me that he couldn't make Mexico with the flaps and gear down, but that he would compute the fuel consumption and shoot for Reno. I was glad he got my idea all by himself. I told him affirmative, to head south. Then I slammed the cockpit door and went back to the tourist compartment with the stew. According to my watch, we got airborne at 7:40 p.m., four hours and 42 minutes since leaving Portland. Like I said I have a very good watch. ANON: Speaking of Portland...Shortly after takeoff you handed your skyjack note to one of the stewardesses... COOPER: Yes. The brunette, and she thought I was trying to proposition her...In a way, she was right. ANON: You were very careful about retrieving that note, about not leaving it–or anything else– behind as evidence. Could you tell us what the note said? COOPER: Word for word. It said, "I am hijacking this aircraft. Relay instructions to the ground that I want $200,000 in $20's and two parachutes delivered to me when the plane lands. I have a bomb." Thirty words. You know that's $6,666 a word? ANON: Not bad by anyone's standards. Tell me, were you scared of anything in particular when you first got on the plane? COOPER: There was one thing. I had nightmares for almost a week prior to the jack. I would be on a plane with my homemade bomb and my note. And I would give the note to some dolly stewardess, and she would turn around and tell me that she was very sorry but that the plane had already been hijacked and we were on our [way–text cut off at column edge]

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COOPER: [continuing from prior column] You can look it up if you like. There is a D.B. Cooper listed. ANON: We'd like to know something about the parachutes that were delivered to you aboard the jet. Were they to your liking? COOPER: Negative. Somebody was playing games there. The backpack harness did not have the necessary D-rings for attaching the chestpacks. They were some sort of emergency rigs for aerobatic flying, I guess. So I just said to hell with it, I'd have to jump without a reserve. ANON: Everyone assumed you asked for two parachutes so they wouldn't give you one with a note that said crime doesn't pay in it, not knowing whether you were going to force somebody, like the stewardess maybe, to bail out with you. What did you do with the extra parachute? COOPER: I made a special point of not leaving it behind in the cabin. I cut it up into strips and used the strips to tie the money bag to my waist, very securely. Next question. ANON: You've told us something about the jump, about working the escape door and plunging out into the darkness. How did you bail out without tipping off the crew? COOPER: [no answer transcribed—tape gap follows] (tape garbled briefly here.) ...took the stewardess forward, and ordered the captain to lock the door from the inside. I checked it out. It was locked. I returned aft, closing the first-class and tourist compartment curtains securely behind me. Do you know how eerie it is to have a complete airplane to yourself except for some scared robots? Anyway I got on the blower to the flight deck again, telling Scott to hold the aircraft at 7,000 feet, and speed at 200 miles per hour. ANON: But how could you be sure he'd follow your orders? COOPER: He'd been told to cooperate. More importantly, he'd seen me pop into his cockpit. I made a point of reading his gauges. If you were him would you want to risk upsetting a madman with a bomb by [text cut off at column edge]

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[Pull-quote box]: "I'll be back in five years..." [Above pull-quote, partially illegible]: ...told him to cooperate and that I got too bugged [and] my bomb was liable to go off. Then I said, as I remember... "Now hear me, this is your skyjacker speaking. Nobody under any circumstances, is to attempt to make any further contact with me. Is that understood?" They understood. ANON: It was at that time that you leaped clear with the $200,000? COOPER: Well, sometime after that. ANON: One final thing, Mr. Cooper. You've got $200,000, a national reputation, you've been first at something you've wanted to do. That's awkward but you know what I mean...what now? COOPER: I'm going to retire. Tonight, I am leaving for parts unknown. ANON: You aren't going to fly, are you? COOPER: What do you think? ANON: Don't know, to tell the truth. COOPER: Good. Loose lips sink ships. I've let mine flap far too freely. It's very hard to keep a story like mine inside. Especially after all the nonsense that has been written about me. Just as well that we cleared the air. You were the first to ask, did you know that? ANON: My privilege. For your sake I hope I'm the only one to ask. When will you be back? COOPER: Somewhere in the neighborhood of five years. ANON: Why five years? COOPER: That, my friend, is the statute of limitations. [FLAG]: Goodbye, Mr. Cooper... [and good luck]